How people with disabilities fare in Cuba

The 22nd Pastors for Peace Friendshipment Caravan and 2011 Venceremos Brigade gathered on July 29 to discuss gender issues with a panel from the Cuban National Center for Sex Education and the Federation of Cuban Women.

Isabel Moya says, ‘Cuba gives us dignity.’ WW photo: Cheryl LaBash

The situation of people with disabilities in Cuba was not on the agenda, but when a panelist rolled in using a wheelchair, we had to ask her. In the U.S., capitalist austerity is hitting people with disabilities hard, dismantling or cutting special transit, health care and schools for people with special needs.

Isabel Moya Richard is a journalism professor at the University of Havana. She is also the general director of the weekly print and online magazine “Mujeres” and serves on the national secretariat of the Federation of Cuban Women. This is what she told us:

“When people are asked what is the biggest thing gained from the revolution, they usually say, health, education, sports. And I say that the most important thing the revolution has given to the individual is dignity.

“In this sense, dignity for Cubans who live with disabilities is in three main areas:

“Protection from the point of view of health care and social security, legislation and [being able] to work with subjectivity because it is not only with political will. That is insufficient; prejudice is still something that has to be worked against.

“There are three nongovernmental organizations that work with people with disabilities. One is for people with physical or motor limitations. ANCI [National Association of the Blind], which is very strong, is an association of people with visual impairment, and [the third is] for people who have auditory or hearing impairment.

“It is important for you to know that each one of these three organizations has within it a group or team that works with a gender perspective. So they are the ones who deal with the gender perspectives that mainstream women with disabilities; they work in collaboration with the Federation of Cuban Women.

“What are some of the issues, what are some of the problems that women with disabilities encounter in Cuba? Sometimes it is the right to be a mother. A part of society questions, ‘Why should she be a mother? Can she be a mother?’

“Women who might have a speech and hearing impairment are demanding that at the moment of delivery there should be a nurse assisting them to communicate to the doctor what she is feeling, what she wants and what she doesn’t want.

“Whatever disabilities a person has, even one who is blind without speech, they all have the right to education. They all have special educational plans.

“The empowerment of people with disability has to do with the right to educate themselves and enhance their self-esteem.

“I have a problem of lack of calcium. My little baby was born with a problem in her knee. They had to operate. When she was in fifth grade, she was operated on. It was a very delicate operation, and she could not go to school.

“Every day a teacher would go to our home and give her classes, for her alone and of course free of charge. The first day the teacher came to the home the child was in her pajamas. The teacher said, ‘Why do you need pajamas? Put on your uniform; we are having classes.’ It was to have her feel that she was a student and give her dignity and meet her special needs.”